Tuesday, July 06, 2010

A Fabulous Fourth Weekend

It was hard coming back to work today.  I had a fabulous long weekend.  Heck, it wasn't nearly long enough.

Friday, I left right after work to head up to Hume Lake.  My roommate Daniel is working up there this summer, so I felt a burning need to visit him wanted to use him as an excuse to visit the camp.  It's a huge Christian camp near Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon National Park, and I've heard about it all my life but never had a chance to go there.

Of course, I had some fun driving up.  From what I could tell when I left on Sunday, I took one turn too early.  If I'd just kept going another couple of miles, I would have seen the sign I should have taken.  As it was, I just went the long way and arrived at the back of the camp instead of the main entrance.  It probably added half an hour to my drive, but by the time I got there, I was pretty stressed.  Now, of course, I can laugh.  But at the time, I was trying to figure out what to do if I didn't find it.

Fortunately, the staff was very helpful once I got there.  I was able to find the trailer complex where I would be staying and park my car.  Daniel was working until Saturday morning, but by the time I got there it was pretty much time to go to bed.

Saturday, Daniel showed me around the camp.  It's huge!  They have a separate camp for elementary school kids, jr. high, and high school.  Each of them is bigger than the camp I grew up going to.  Yes, we were driving for the tour.

That afternoon, we took a canoe out on the lake.  Since Daniel is staff, we didn't even have to pay the rental fee.  We paddled across the lake to the dam, then over to the swimming cove to swim.  We reluctantly headed back to go to dinner.

Saturday night was a hoedown, which involved an outdoor BBQ, a competition for the various departments of the staff, and then a square dance.  I watched the competition, and it was lots of fun.  It was the usual silly relay races and what not, ending with a mud pit tug of war.

After the square dance was over, we took off with the other summer counselors to go look at the stars.  I love just lying out looking at the glory of God's creation.  It was magnificent!

Sunday started with church at 10:45.  I wish I could say I had slept that long, but I woke up around 7, although I didn't get out of bed until 8.  After lunch, Daniel had a meeting, so I walked the three mile circumference of the lake, taking plenty of pictures along the way.  Daniel had to start counseling again after his meeting, so I decided to come on home.

But I needed to do one last thing.  The zip line was open, and I decided to do that.  My fear of heights really was bothering me as I was standing up there waiting to be told I could go.  But once I got going, I really enjoyed it.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had I done it a second time.  But the line was pretty long by the time I got back down, and I wanted to hit the road.

As it turned out, I got back to town at the perfect time to join a group of friends to go watch the fireworks.  It was a group I have seen them with the last several years, and it was good to hang out with them.

Monday, I went to see Toy Story 3 again, this time with Angelique.  It's a great movie the second time around, too.  After that, I hung out at home, talking to my parents and watching some TV.  Honestly, I could have used another day or two of that.  Not that I wouldn't have changed a thing about my weekend.  I wasn't ready to leave Hume either.

Ironically, the weather was hotter at Hume than it is here right now.  It was in the 90's in the afternoon, although it was quite cold over night.  We're still lucky to be hitting the 80's here at home, and I almost had to run my windshield whippers on the way to work this morning.  Come on, it's summer.  I want my hot weather!!!!

2 comments:

Kiefler said...

My dad cleans the drains there. When I was about 12 I went with him in the middle of winter. He spent the day workin, and I spent the day on my sled. It was a down week, so I was actually sledding down the roads that hadn't been cleared.

Awesome memory.

Mark Baker said...

I'm not sure I'd want to go up there in winter. You know me and cold. Plus I'd have to drive in the snow. But it was great for summer.